"Well, it's not quite a mop and it's not quite a puppet… but man (laughs). So to answer your question, I don't know." – Homer Simpson, "A Fish Called Selma"

Lost: Ab Aeterno

Tonight’s episode of Lost, Ab Aeterno, was unique for this season in a couple of ways: first, it was told in the familiar “flashback” style (being almost completely comprised of one, long flashback) and it featured Richard Alpert, who hasn’t been featured previously.

I don’t buy that the island is Hell, just as Purgatory has been debunked. Jacob dunked Richard in the water repeatedly to prove he was still alive and, save for Locke & Sayid, no one is dead (or undead).

Magnus Hanso

Why did the prisoners need to speak English? Were they really headed to the New World? Was the shipwreck the event that spurred the creation of the Dharma Initiative or were the seeds of that organization planted before The Black Rock sailed? Who else feels vindicated in seeing Richard on The Black Rock?

What I think:

The Island as Garden of Eden

That’s not exactly right, but Jacob as some mixture of Old & New Testament God and The Man in Black as (obviously) The Devil makes a ton of sense.

The title of the episode also speaks to a place that is out of time or that has existed since before time.

There’s death on The Island, so we have Original Sin and a state of being after the Fall, but it’s apt enough.

I’m more convinced than ever that our characters eventually end up in the Flash Sideways. I think that the “reset” button worked in one sense but the consequences of that action – getting out of the Yin/Yang “game” between Jacob & The Man in Black has its consequences.

I think that, eventually, folks will have one last shot at choosing their fate (free will) before the realities synch up anyway (destiny).

Clear as mud? Good!

I had some other thoughts, but I’ve forgotten them (and my notes suck).